Category: Insurance

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is offering Commercial Crime Insurance in Asia. The new policy is designed to help companies address the exposures of a changing fraud landscape.

“Corporate fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated as technology advances at an exponential pace across the globe. Companies now face new threats and are tasked with protecting both traditional and digital assets,” said Scotland Walsh-Riddle, Head of Executive & Professional Lines, BHSI Asia. “Our policy is important protection for a company’s balance sheet by both insuring against losses arising from a wide range of threats and providing support to investigate the cause of a loss.”

BHSI’s Commercial Crime Insurance Policy offers concise contract language for commercial organizations and includes coverage for both traditional employee crime and external crimes, including funds transfer fraud, credit card fraud, forgery, and impersonation coverage. Impersonation coverage responds to losses arising when a perpetrator impersonates an employee, executive or business associate of the insured for the purpose of defrauding the insured.

“Impersonation fraud is quickly becoming a systemic issue around the world. We’ve recently seen a social engineering scheme utilize artificial intelligence-based software to impersonate an executive. These schemes are testing the boundaries of what companies can prepare for – and we are committed to helping our customers protect against this rising threat,” said Scotland.

The Commercial Crime Insurance Policy also includes numerous extensions, including coverage for lost establishment fees an insured incurs to establish the existence and quantum of a loss.

“The Commercial Crime Policy was crafted with BHSI’s clear and concise underwriting and is backed by our excellent claims handling,” said Scotland. “Through BHSI’s unparalleled financial strength and experience, our customers and brokers can have the confidence BHSI will be there when it matters most.”

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has appointed Javier Villalba to its expanding leadership team in Spain as Head of Claims.

“We are thrilled to have Javier, with his extensive industry experience, bringing BHSI’s commitment to claims excellence to customers in Spain and throughout Europe. Claims is our product — and Javier is exceptionally equipped to bring this product to the marketplace, the BHSI way,” said Ignacio Almazan, Country Manager, Spain, BHSI.

Javier comes to BHSI with nearly 20 years of claims experience. He was most recently Director for Expert Claims (Spain) and Claims Customer Relationship Manager at Zurich in Spain. Prior to that he spent 16 years in Claims at AIG, beginning as a claims adjuster and rising to the position of AIG South Europe Claims & Operations Officer. He earned a law degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed his studies in Procedural Law at C.E. Ignacio de Loyola.

Javier is based in BHSI’s office in Madrid.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has commenced underwriting casualty and construction insurance in France and filled two key in-country leadership posts, naming Olivier Antiphon as Head of Construction and Anne-Sophie Bonifay as Head of Casualty.

“We are pleased to continue to round out our capabilities in France as we welcome Olivier and Anne-Sophie to lead our entry into the local construction and casualty markets,” said François-Xavier d’Huart, Country Manager, France, BHSI. “Their expertise, coupled with BHSI’s financial strength and commitment to claims handling excellence, will serve our customers and brokers well for years to come.”

Olivier comes to his role with three decades of experience in construction underwriting and engineering. For the past 12 years he was Construction & Engineering Underwriting Manager at XL Insurance Company SE in Paris. Prior to that, he was Engineering Underwriting Manager at Gerling in Paris. He began his career as Head of the Firefighting Engineering Team at Alstom Power. He has a degree in Health & Security from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Saint-Denis.

Anne-Sophie joins BHSI with 25 years of experience spanning both middle market and large account casualty underwriting. She began her career in casualty underwriting at AGF (Allianz), and then Commercial Union, in Paris. She then held increasingly senior positions in casualty underwriting at Chubb Insurance Company of Europe, and was Casualty Underwriting Manager, Large Corporate Accounts, at Zurich Global Corporate France. She served as Casualty Underwriting Manager, Middle Market, at XL Insurance Company Limited, and most recently was Casualty Underwriting Manager, Middle Market, at AXA XL in Paris. She holds a master’s degree in Insurance Law from the University of Paris Panthéon Assas.

Olivier and Anne-Sophie are based in BHSI’s office in Paris.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

(BRK.A), (BRK.B)

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is entering the surety market in Australia and has named Jonathan Griffiths as Head of Surety, Australia.

“We are pleased to expand our surety footprint and our team into Australia. With his extensive experience, Jonathan is exceptionally qualified to bring to market surety solutions with BHSI’s agility, underwriting expertise and financial strength,” said Mark Lingafelter, President, Australasia, BHSI.

BHSI will focus on providing contract surety solutions for large and mid-sized contractors throughout Australia. The company currently provides surety solutions in the U.S, Canada, UK & Europe and Asia.

Jonathan comes to BHSI with more than a decade of surety underwriting experience at Liberty Specialty Markets, where he was most recently Head of Surety, Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney. Before that he held increasingly senior roles underwriting surety for Liberty in Australia as well as North America, the UK and Europe.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from London Metropolitan University in the UK and an Associate in Fidelity and Surety Bonding certification. He has served as Vice President of the Australian Surety Association since 2015.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.